Flood-hit Saddal Panjar to be first smart village in J&K: Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that the first "smart village" in Jammu and Kashmir will be built on the ruins of Saddal-Panajar village which was washed away in the devastating floods of September 2014.

Jammu: Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that the first "smart village" in Jammu and Kashmir will be built on the ruins of Saddal-Panajar village which was washed away in the devastating floods of September 2014.

"For the first time, the village that was washed away in the devastating floods will be rebuilt as smart village. First smart village of Jammu and Kashmir will be built over the ruins of the village that was washed away in the floods," Singh told reporters here today.

He said that the village would be developed as an ideal village and there will be no crunch of funds to hamper its development.

"I have already adopted three villages and will utilise money four times the amount of my MP fund," said Singh, who is Minister of State in the Prime Minister office.

He said that a vocational training centre will also be set up in the village so that youth could get job oriented training in various fields.

"The village will have beauty and hair saloon and other modern amenities," he said.

Singh said that in the first phase, 27 families hit by floods will be provided with hutments while the remaining work in the village would be finished in next 18 months.

He said that the Narendra Modi-led government at the center has been "compassionate" about Jammu and Kashmir and has already given a lot to the state after it was hit by devastating floods last year.

"After the state government became defunct due to the floods, the Centre rushed to help the people of the state," he said.

On the issue of the state undergoing severe financial crisis he said, "The state is under direct central rule for the last 10 days and the financial crunch has not come overnight, the Centre will see what can be done," he said.

Singh said he would go to the village with the representatives of Love Care foundation, an NGO, that has adopted the Saddal Panjar village to rebuild it.

Love Care Foundation has adopted the Panjar village in Udhampur district to rebuild it for the people who were affected by the massive landslide triggered by the floods in the area.

Around 40 people had died and more than 121 families lost their houses, livelihoods options and agriculture land in this village.

Project Aasha was today inaugurated by Singh in which 56 hutments have been built out of which 27 will be handed over to the victims in the village.